of habitation, (Ver. 6,) Driven beyond the pale of civilized society, they were com- pelled "to dwell in the cliffs of the valleys," literally, "in the horror of ~lens," i.e. in dismal o.nd gloomy gorges, like the Horites (c,r cave-men) of Mount Seir (Geu. xiv. 6) betaking themselves for shelter to the caves of the earth and the holes in the rocks: ,.According to modern scientific theory, they would exemplify rnan in the earliest or lowest stage of his development; according to lhe testimony of revelation, the Troglo- dytes would attest man's degenern.cy from a primeval standard of perfection. And so persistent is this downward tendency in man apart from Divine grace, that almost every civilized community has its social and moral Troglodytes, who dwell in dismal valleys-its wretched outcasts, children of sin and shame, whose lurking-places are dens of infamy and haunts of vice. 7. Dehumanized in respect of 11ature. (Ver. 7.) Having previously (eh. xxiv. 5) described these evicted aborigines as leading a gregarious life, like wild asses roaming the desert under the guidance of a leader (eh. xxxix. 5), Job recurs to the comparison to indicate, not the eager ferocity with which they scour the st_eppe for fodder, but how near to the brutes they have been brought by their misery, representing them as huddling themselves together under the bushes, and croaking out, in unintelligible jargon like the brayings of an ass, a doleful lamentation over their miserable condition. Herodotus compares the language of the Troglodyte Ethiopians to the screeching of bats. The speech of savage races is mostly composed of "growling gutturals and sharp clicks" (Cox). As a nation advances in civilization its tongue purifies and refines. Like the cave-men of Western .Asia and Ethiopia, the moral 'rroglodytes of society have a jargon of their own; e.g. the language of thieves. II. THE BEHAVIOUR OF JOB'S DERIDERS, 1. Mockery and contempt. (Vers.l, 9, 10.~ Physically and morally degraded, this worthless rabble of marauders, half men an<t half beasts, having fallen in with Job in their wanderings, were so little touche,I by sympathy for his misfortunes, that they turned his miseries into merry jests, and made bywords of his groans. It is a special mark of depravity when youth mocks at age (2 Kings ii. 3) and laughs at affliction. The experience of Job was reproduced in the cases of David (Ps. xxxv. 15; lxix. 12), Jeremiah (Lam. iii. 14, 63), and Christ (Matt. xxvii. 43; Luke xxiii. 35). 2. Insult and outrage. (Ver. 10.) They gave open and undisguised expression to the abhorrence with which they regarded him, by fleeing far from him, or standing at a distance, and making their remarks upon him. If they ventured to come near him it was either to spit in his presence, "the greatest insult to an Oriental" (Carey), or perhaps to spit in his face (cf. Numb. xii 14; Deut. xxv. 9), thus carrying their contempt and scorn to the lowest depth of indignity. Job had fallen low indeed to be thus outraged by the vilest dregs of society ; but not lower than did Christ, who was similarly trc.>ated by the rabble of Judrea (Matt. xxvi. 67; xxvii. 30), as long before it had been predicted that he should be (Isa. l. 6). No doubt in all this Job's sufferings were typical of Christ's. 3. Host-ilityandviolence. (Vers.12-15.) Not content with words and gestures, the young vagabonds proceeded to acts of open violence. Having found the poor fallen prince groaning in wretchedness and misery upon the ash-heap outside his house, they abstained not from direct hostility. Like a crowd of witnesses starting up on his right hand, they overwhelmed him with accusations; like an army of assailants thrusting his feet away, they disputed with him every inch of ground, compelling hirn to retire ever further and further back; pressing on like a tumultuous besieging host, they cast up their ways of destruction, i.e. their military causeways, against him, tearing down his path so as to render escape impossible, breaking in upon him as through a wide breach, and causing him to flee in terror before their irresistible approach, so that his nobility was dispersed like the wind, and his prosperity swept away like a cloud. III. THE MOTIVR OF JoB's DERIDERS. 1. Not Job's unkindness. It was true that these insolent vagabonds, with their fathers. had been summarily evicted from their pristine settlements-had been compelled, not without cruel oppression and intolerable hardship, to retire before the superior race who had dislodged them; it may also be that of that conquering Arab tribe Job was a conspicuous member, and might on that account be. hold responsible for the indignities and wrongs that had been heaped upon the wretched aborigines; but, in point of fact, Job disclaims having taken part in those ruthless acts of tyranny which caused tb e poor of the land to slink away and hide them- selves, naked and shivering, in the dens and caves of the earth, in the holes and crevice■ fflE 'BOOK OF ITOB.
flf the rocks (eh. ni\'. 4,.-.8), 1md r&thllr indicates tM.t he 'tege.rded their sorrowt\,not ..Uh com1iass1=, even while, with disgn~t and a.version, he shre.nk from e.ny contact wit)a UJ'em!!el vea. Bat : 2. Their own wkkedness. They simply saw thal; he, 'Whom they once knew as " f'OWl'rful prince, "'IIB overtaken by evil fortune, and they tl!tnC'd upOn him accordingly. That thc.r traced Job's Mlamities, as Job liimself tlid, to the he.'nd of Ood (ver. 11), WlLB unlikely. Yet the result was 'the same. ··God, accorc',ing to Job-J. RC'coraing t-0 them, fRtc~ha<l u11loosed his bow and '!'Cnt a shaft throuoh the heart of this imrerions autocrat, or had loosened the cord which npheld the te.,'.;'t of his hitherto vigorous body, and had laid him prostrate beneath a loathsome and painful disease; snd so they, casting off restraint, assailed him with unbridled arrogance acting 'out in these early times, the familiar story of tl1e kicking ass and the de&d lio~. ,• ' ' "But yest.erday the word of CSlS&r might Have stood against the world; uow lies he there, And none eo poor to do him reverence." . , ('Julius ClllSar,' act iiL !!°'. 2.) 1 Learn : 1. The certainty that man may degrade himself beneath the· 1evel of the beasts. 2. The right of society to protect itself against the lawless arid depraved. , :t. The tendency of all wickedness to lead to misery even on earth. 4. The ibfal.libilit.y with which moral depravity per,petuates itself. 5. The instability' whi_ch aftends all human greatness. 6. The length to which wicked men· will go· in persecuting· and oppressing others when God grants permission. 7. The inevitable approach of a nation's doom when its youth has become corrapt and depraved. • .,_·, 1' • . "